To Protect You
by Dead Man's Toe
Summary: Morty finally gets the courage to ask Jessica out, and as punishment, Brad decides to make his life a living hell. But Morty won't tell anyone, so it's up to Rick to find out what's wrong and protect his grandson. Not incest.
1. The First Strike

**Prompt by Wolowizard**

* * *

There she was. Beautiful red hair, piercing green eyes, and just a few lockers down from Morty. He shuts his locker and exhales nervously.

"You broke up with Brad again?" one of her friends asked.

"Yeah," Jessica answered. "We're just not meant to be."

Morty approached the group of girls slowly, gathering up his courage. He cleared his throat, which sounded like a garbage disposal. Jessica turned around, surprised, and looked at him. "Hi, Morty," she said awkwardly.

"H-h-hi J-Jessica," Morty stuttered. His throat was getting dry, his face flushed, and his hands sweaty.

Jessica looked at him in concern. "Is there something you needed, Morty?"

"Y-yeah," he stuttered. "Will you g-g-go on a d-date with m-me?"

The girl was about to answer when a large hand clamped down over Morty's shoulder, and he felt his heart climb to his throat. He recognized Brad's hand, and he knew this wasn't going to end well. "Are you serious?" Brad asked, spit flying from his mouth and landing in Morty's hair. "You really thought you had a chance with her? Man, you are barking up the wrong tree."

"Stay out of this, Brad!" Jessica interjected.

Brad spun Morty around and shoved him face first into the lockers. "I don't care what she says," Brad whispered in a low growl. "She's mine."

Morty was shaking as Brad pulled him backwards. For a second, he thought he was free, but then he was falling to the floor, landing face down painfully. Brad's foot collided with Morty's ribcage, and Morty coughed in pain. "P-p-please," he stuttered.

"Brad, stop it!" Jessica yelled.

Brad's foot connected with Morty's stomach next, and groaned in pain. Tears were forming in his eyes. "St-stop," he begged.

"No," Brad said, kicking him in the stomach again. "If you're not man enough to fight back, your not man enough for Jessica."

Satisfied with his work, Brad stalked away. Morty started to cry from the pain. Jessica knelt down beside him on the cold, dirty ground. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Just go," Morty said weakly. He grabbed his aching stomach with one hand and lifted himself off the floor with the other. With what little dignity he had left, he walked away towards his next class, knowing he would be teased mercilessly for his tears.

* * *

Once home, Morty avoided everyone and hid in his room. He sobbed softly into his pillow to muffle the sounds from his pain and humiliation. He buried himself under his blanket, not wanting to be seen in case somebody intruded on him.

Just as he did so, Rick burst into his room, unannounced. "Come on, Morty, I need your help with something."

Morty quickly dried his tears and cleared his throat. "Not now, Rick," he said.

"Morty. I need your help. Come on."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling up to it right now, Rick, maybe later," Morty said with a sigh. Why couldn't his grandpa leave him alone?

Frustrated, Rick grabbed Morty's leg and began to pull. Morty kicked back. "Rick! I said not now!" he screamed as his grandpa pulled. But his grandpa was too strong. Morty was pulled from his bed, and his bruised ribs hit the hard ground. He screamed in pain, curling up on himself.

Rick suddenly grew very pale. "I'm s-s-sorry, Morty," he said. "I'll just leave you alone then."

And just like that, he was gone. Morty didn't have the strength to stand back up. He just laid on his floor and cried quietly into his sleeve from the fresh pain.

Outside, he could hear Beth yelling at Rick. The asshole deserved it for literally dragging him out of bed. Morty pushed himself up. It looked like it was time for him to save Rick's ass again.

He stumbled out of his room, quickly wiping the tears from his eyes. "Mom?" he called out. "What's going on?"

"Morty!" his mom exclaimed, rushing over to him. "I heard you scream. Did Rick hurt you?"

"No," Morty lied with a smile. "Just teenage angst stuff. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh," Beth replied. "Well then, I'm glad you're alright."

Morty smiled again and walked off. He supposed he could do with a distraction, if Rick still needed his help. Besides, he had to keep up the happy facade for his family.

He walked to the garage, barely managing to keep himself upright. He pushed the door open to see Rick sitting at his desk, just staring at his hands. Morty cleared his throat, and Rick jumped. "Morty!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said. "Do you still need my help?"

Rick eyed him suspiciously. "Yeah," he said. "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"Positive," Morty lied, smiling.

"Well then -urp-," Rick said, pulling out his portal gun. "Let's go get some plutonium."

* * *

Morty was panting so hard that his injured lungs ached. He shouldered the backpack full of plutonium rocks and followed Rick. It seemed they were always running from alien monsters. This one was at least ten feet tall, had three heads, and was covered in purple scales.

Rick was messing with wiring on his portal gun. It had shorted out just a minute ago, leaving them to their present predicament. "How much longer?" Morty shouted, each syllable hurting.

"Almost got it," Rick yelled back.

Morty's foot hit an uneven patch of ground, and he went flying face first into the ground. He screamed as his ribs made contact. It seemed he couldn't catch a break.

"Morty!" Rick shouted, rushing over to him.

Morty only groaned in response as he tried to pull himself up. The monster was getting closer. He couldn't die like this.

Suddenly, Rick was shielding him with his body. "Almost got it," he said. He snapped a wire into place, and the green light lit up. He entered the coordinates as fast as humanly possible and shot open a portal. "Come on," Rick grunted, lifting Morty to his feet by his arm. They rushed through the green portal and landed safe in the garage.

"Morty, are you okay?" Rick asked, staring at him in concern.

"Yeah," Morty lied. "Just had a hard fall."

"Uh huh," Rick replied, eyeing him closely.

"I-I should probably go rest now," Morty replied. He threw down the backpack. "Here's your plutonium."

And with that, Morty headed back to his room, where hopefully he would not be disturbed again.


	2. The Fly

Morty's behavior was odd, even for Morty. He had dragged Morty out of bed many times before, and the kid had never screamed like that. It was worrisome that something was wrong and Morty wasn't telling him.

Quietly, he tip-toed into Morty's room. Lucky for him, the boy was a heavy sleeper, used to Rick's loud noises coming from the garage in the middle of the night. He snuck forwards and pulled back the blanket to reveal his bare chest.

Rick gasped at what he saw. The boy was covered in ugly, purple bruises, and he knew they hadn't come from his fall, or any fall for that matter.

As quietly as he came in, Rick snuck out again and closed the door. He made his way back down into the garage. If the boy wasn't going to tell him about his injuries, Rick was just going to have to spy on him.

He had the perfect idea too. He was going to create a drone the looked like a fly so it wouldn't cause any suspicion. He could follow Morty all day long without the boy even noticing. It was the perfect plan.

Rick got to work quickly, welding metal together and setting wires. It took him about thirty minutes to create the drone, and another couple to disguise it as a fly. He tested it out. The controls worked perfectly. He set his computer on his desk and stuck the flash drive containing the program he had written to get a live feed from the camera inside the drone inside. Now, he could see what the fly saw.

"Alright, Morty," Rick whispered to himself. "What are you hiding?"

* * *

Morty hardly spoke a word at breakfast. Nobody but Rick seemed to notice. The old man didn't take his eye off the boy the whole time, but Morty didn't notice because he kept his head down the entire meal.

Rick snuck away to the garage before anyone could ask him any stupid questions. He activated the drone and sent it outside, following Morty on his walk to school. Morty didn't notice the fly; Rick made sure to stay far enough behind him for that.

The walk was uneventful, and Morty had taken his normal route. That meant whatever was happening to him was happening at school, and either nobody noticed or nobody cared. It made Rick's blood boil to think that.

He followed Morty from class to class, growing more and more bored with each passing minute. He was starting to think it was just a one-time thing when he saw a big black boy he recognized as Brad follow Morty to his locker.

Morty had his hand raised to enter his combination when Brad came up behind him and slammed his face into his locker. "No!" Morty shouted. He kicked backwards, making contact with Brad's shin.

"You're gonna pay for that," Brad growled. He took Morty by his shoulders and threw him to the floor. Morty cried out in pain.

"Please don't do this," he shouted, but Brad had already raised his foot. He kicked Morty's back hard, then his already injured rib cage. "Stop!" Morty screamed. From Rick's position, he could see tears in his grandson's eyes.

Brad flipped him over and punched him in the jaw. "You still think you're good enough for Jessica?" he asked.

"N-no," Morty cried weakly.

"That's right," Brad said, punching him in the eye. "Don't you ever ask out my girl again."

Brad left him there, lying on the floor. Rick sat speechless. His grandson was getting severely bullied, and no one stopped to help. No one ever helped Morty, poor kid. Rick was practically foaming at the mouth, ready to take matter into his own hands, but he reminded himself that Beth and Jerry were the parents. Surely, they could take care of the situation without it getting messy. Luckily, it was Beth's off day, and Jerry still wasn't employed, so he decided it was time for a little family meeting.

"Alright -urp- turn the TV off and listen to me," Rick announced as he arrived in the living room. Jerry rolled his eyes, and Beth sighed.

"What is it, Dad?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Turn off the damn TV, and I'll tell you," Rick replied, seething with rage.

"Yeesh, calm down," Beth said, picking up the remote and turning the TV off.

Rick took a seat. "Your son is getting severely bullied at school, and it's time for you to intervene."

"Woah, slow down," Jerry said. "Since when are you telling us how to parent?"

"Since I saw my grandson getting the living shit beaten out of him," Rick shouted.

"Dad, calm down," Beth replied. "Morty's always had trouble with bullies, but he doesn't want our help."

"This is different!" Rick exclaimed. "This isn't just bullying, it's assault!"

"Don't be overdramatic," Jerry accused. "Morty is doing just fine."

Rick was seeing red. He balled up his fists and stalked out of the room. "Fine!" he exclaimed. "I'll take care of it myself."

Just then, Summer walked through the door, and Rick decided to give his daughter and her idiot husband one last chance. "Summer," he said. "You gotta help me."

Her face brightened up. "You mean like an adventure?"

"No," Rick growled. "I mean like Morty is getting beaten every day, and you need to tell your parents how bad it is since Morty won't."

Summer sighed. "Morty's problems aren't my problems," she said and walked away.

Seething even more, Rick made his was into the garage to plot his revenge. "Don't worry, Morty," he whispered to himself. "Grandpa's gonna take care of you."


	3. The Intervention

Morty sighed as he made his way to his locker, passing Jessica. The girl tried to wave and greet him, but Morty kept his head down. He didn't need to get in more trouble with Brad. "Morty," Jessica called after him. Morty sighed. His locker wasn't too far away from Jessica's, so it looked like he was going to have to talk to her.

"What do you want, Jessica?" Morty sighed.

Jessica placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry about this whole thing with Brad," she said. "He's a jealous guy, but I've talked to him, and I think I've calmed him down." Morty highly doubted that. "I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings between us."

Morty looked up at her, and he really wanted to blame her. But with her looking at him with those sad eyes, he just couldn't. "Of course not," he replied.

"Great!" Jessica exclaimed, smiling brightly. "I guess I'll see you around then."

Morty sighed as he walked her walk off. She was still so beautiful to him, even after all he'd been through with Brad. He reached up to enter his locker combination when suddenly his head was slammed hard against the locker. Morty didn't have to look to know it was Brad.

"What were you doing with my girl?" Brad demanded.

Morty couldn't say anything with his face still pressed against his locker. He didn't even bother fighting anymore, knowing that he had no chance at fighting Brad off.

He was yanked away from the locker and thrown down to the floor. Brad's foot connected with his ribcage. Brad kept kicking, and Morty started to cough up blood. His lung felt like it was on fire, and he was certain that a few ribs were broken.

Suddenly, Morty heard the familiar sound of one of Rick's portals opening up. "Stay the hell away from my grandson!" he heard Rick shout.

There was a crash, and Morty knew Rick had slammed Brad into the lockers. He heard Rick's fists coming down on Brad, but he couldn't focus. He curled up into a ball, wheezing. More blood was coming out through his mouth, and his vision was starting to get blurry.

"Jesus, Morty, are you okay?" he heard Rick ask. "Stupid question, you're obviously not." Rick leaned down to cradle Morty, and the movement sent a searing pain through his lung. He screamed right before blacking out.

* * *

The sound of beeping woke Morty up. He groaned and opened his eyes. White walls surrounded him, and he was laying in a bed in a hospital gown. He put his hand to his chest and noticed the bandages over it.

"Oh Morty, you're up!"

Morty turned his head to see who was talking. He was still groggy, probably from the meds being pumped into his arm through the IV. To his surprise, he saw Jessica sitting in a chair next to him.

"Jessica?" Morty asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Can't I visit my friend in the hospital?" she asked.

Morty smiled. "How'd I get here?" he asked.

"Your grandpa-"

As if Jessica had summoned him, Rick came bursting through the door. "Morty!" he exclaimed. "Thank god you're awake." He moved to sit on the bed. "How're you feeling, buddy?"

"Better," Morty answered. His chest still ached, but he no longer felt the burning pain.

Rick's expression turned stern. "A perforated lung and four broken ribs, Morty," he informed him. "Why didn't you tell me Brad was hurting you this bad? You could have died, Morty! He was about to kill you!"

Morty stared down at his hands and blushed. "I didn't think anyone would care," he admitted. "I guess I'm lucky you arrived in time."

Rick narrowed his eyes. "I arrived in time because I had a drone following you around to figure out why you were acting so weird."

"Thank you," Morty said with a small smile. That was typical Rick.

Just then, Summer opened the door. "Morty!" she cried. "I'm so sorry."

"What for?" Morty asked, furrowing his brow.

"Grandpa Rick tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen," she admitted.

Morty sat up so he could hug his sister. She squeezed his chest a little too hard, and he groaned in pain. Summer pulled back quickly. "I'm sorry!"

His parents walked in next. "How're you feeling, baby?" Beth asked.

"I feel fine," Morty replied, ignoring Rick's death glare.

"I'm so sorry for not doing something sooner... for making Dad be the one to save you," she said. "Can you forgive us for being horrible parents?"

"Of course," Morty said. "And it's not your fault I didn't tell you."

"But you will next time, right?" Jerry asked.

"Listen to me, Morty," Rick said, very seriously. "Next time someone's hurting you, you tell me."

"Or I will," Jessica threatened.

"Alright," Morty caved. "I promise I'll tell someone."

Rick leaned over and ruffled Morty's hair. Morty relaxed into the bed, happy to be surrounded by Jessica and his family.


End file.
